summer
by Faerie0975
Summary: bella's best friend from phoenix arrives in forks for a surprise visit. but bella has changed so much that summer isn't sure if she's her friend anymore. and when she meets embry call, her world is turned upside down. / post-bd. on hiatus.
1. Surprise

One

I bounced up and down excitedly in the backseat of the taxi. When the car finally stopped in front of an old white house, I counted out the money I owed the driver and stepped out of the cab...

...Into the freezing cold snow. Ick. Snow. My feet were numb in seconds. I shivered as I walked carefully up the front walk, which was slick with ice.

I stopped in front of the door. It was a nice door -- solid, brown wood. No windows; no way to see me as she came to answer the door. This _would_ be a surprise. I raised my right hand and knocked three times.

There were footsteps. Far too heavy for her. Must be her father, I thought. The door swung open to reveal a man going slightly bald, with a few grey hairs and a mustache. He had her eyes. The same shape and colour.

"Can I help you?" he asked gruffly.

I stuck out my hand. "Charlie? I'm Summer Johnson..."

He shook my hand, then just stood there, staring at me.

"Um, is Bella there?" I asked, tucking a strand of my short red hair behind one ear.

He looked startled. "Bella doesn't live here anymore," he said.

I frowned. "What?"

"Bella doesn't live here anymore," he repeated.

"Why not?"

"Doesn't she talk to her old friends anymore?" he mumbled, then rose his voice so I could hear him properly. "She got married."

Bella? Married? What the _hell_ happened to her? Only four years ago she had told me that if she got married any earlier than thirty, her mom would kill her. Wasn't she still twenty, just like me?

_Married._

"Well, where does she live now?" I said finally.

"Oh, over at the Cullens' place. I can call them, if you want," he said.

"No!"

He looked at me in shock.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "This is supposed to be a surprise. Could you give me directions?"

"Yeah, sure," he said. "Come in, I'll make you a map."

I left ten minutes later with detailed directions to a house just outside of town, and a very accurate-looking map. "Be careful you don't miss the driveway," Charlie warned. "It's kind of hard to find, unless Alice is planning some sort of party." He let me borrow his police cruiser so I wouldn't have to call a cab.

I was halfway through town before I remembered that I was going to ask who Alice was.

I missed the turn -- typical me -- and had to turn around and go back. Then I missed it again, and a third time. Finally I turned at the right stop and began the drive up a long, winding driveway through a thick forest.

I had never seen so much _green_ in my life.

Finally the trees opened up to reveal a large house. Ninety-nine percent of the walls were floor-to-ceiling windows. A long line of garage doors ran along one side of the house. How many cars did Bella _need?_ I walked up the porch steps and sighed sadly as I saw that this front door was almost entirely made of glass. Damn it. She would see me. No more element of surprise.

I rang the doorbell and waited. There were footsteps, then the door opened to reveal a tall, blond man. He was probably about twenty-five or so. He was very pale, and he had eyes the colour of molten gold. I couldn't think of words to describe him.

Well. If _this_ was Bella's husband, I would have to congratulate her.

The man smiled at me, waiting politely for me to say something.

"Hi," I managed. "I'm Summer. Is Bella there?"

"Yes," he said. "Bella?" He didn't even raise his voice as he called her name. His voice was beautiful. All smooth and silky. Could a voice be silky?

Then she appeared at the top of a wide staircase.

There was something _different_ about her -- she was abnormally pale, and she had always been a very pale person. Her hair was a darker, richer shade of brown. And her eyes were different. No longer that beautiful chocolate brown, but the same molten gold as the angel-like man.

She reached the door and seemed to freeze as she looked at me.

"_Summer?_"

Her voice sounded different, too. Like tinkling bells. I dismissed this as some sort of strange trick of the mind because I hadn't seen her in so long.

I held out my arms. "Hi," I said.

"Oh my _God,_" she muttered.

"Hello? Hug?" I said.

"Right." She hugged me.

"Jeez, Bell, you're _freezing!_" I complained. "I thought _I_ was the one who was out in the snow!"

"Yeah," she muttered absently. "Oh. This is Carlisle, my father-in-law." She gestured to the man beside her.

Oh. Father-in-law. Well, if her husband was the son of _this_ angel, he had to be beautiful, too.

"I want to meet your family," I told her.

"Okay..." She took my hand -- her hand was _freezing!_ What was _wrong_ with her? Was it some sort of medical condition? -- and led me up the stairs and down the hall to a large room with lots of big windows and lots of people sitting around doing absolutely nothing.

"_This_ is your family?" I said, stunned. How big could a family _be?_ There had to be more than ten of them.

"Sort of," she muttered. "This is my husband, Edward," she said, smiling at a godlike man with bronze hair and the same golden eyes as almost everybody else in the room. "And this is my daughter, Renesmee." The girl looked about four or five, with bronze curls to match her father's.

"Wait," I said. "How old is she?"

"Four," said Bella.

"Four. How did you have a kid that's four years old? That would make you sixteen when you had her!" I said. "And, correct me if I'm wrong, but you moved here at _seventeen,_ right?"

"She's adopted."

"Oh."

"This is my mother-in-law, Esme," she went on, gesturing at a woman with caramel-coloured hair. She, too, had pale skin and golden eyes. "And this is my sister-in-law Alice, and my other sister-in-law, Rosalie." A short girl with short, dark hair and a tall girl whose blonde hair waved past her waist. They also had the same pale skin and butterscotch eyes. "And my two brother-in-laws, Emmett and Jasper." Emmett was a big guy with bulging muscles, sitting next to Rosalie, and honey-blond Jasper sat with Alice. "And this is Jacob. He lives in La Push. He's here for a visit," Bella added, pointing to the only guy who wasn't pale in the entire room. He looked like a Native -- dark skin and black hair that he had cut short.

"And these people are all _related?_" I asked in shock.

"Not really. Rose and Jasper are the only ones who are blood-related," she explained. "They're twins. Their parents died when they were ten, so they came to live with their aunt -- Esme -- and they've been with them ever since. Edward, Alice and Emmett were adopted, so their last names are actually Cullen."

"Okay, I _think_ I followed that."

"So..." Bella seemed to be searching for something to say. "Where are you staying, Summer?"

"Uhhhh... I don't really know," I admitted.

"Do you want help finding a hotel?" she asked.

"Don't be silly!" interrupted Alice. "Summer's going to stay here."

Bella shot a dark look at her.

"Here," said Alice to me. "I'll show you the guest room."

Bewildered, I followed her out of the room, up another flight of stairs, and into another big room with more windows and a gigantic bed with a fluffy white bedspread. "Here you go," she said with a bright smile. "I'll let you settle in. We'll be in the living room."

She shut the door after her and I stood there in shock for a moment. Was Alice all right in the head? She seemed kind of psycho to me.

Downstairs, I heard a loud laugh.

I wondered briefly what they were laughing about, then shook my head and sat down on the bed. I sat there for a long time. Finally I went downstairs. I paused on the last step, watching them. They lounged around the large living room -- it looked as though it had been more than one room, once. Emmett reclined in an easy chair with Rosalie on his lap and a remote in one hand, flipping channels on a wide-screen television. Jacob was lying on the fluffy carpet, tossing a giggling Renesmee up and down, catching her easily every time she came hurtling down towards him. Bella and Edward sat in another armchair, their alert eyes following Renesmee as her body went up and down and up and down and up and down... Jasper lay along the length of a sofa. Alice sat on the floor, her back against the couch near Jasper's head. Carlisle and Esme were nowhere to be seen.

"Hi, Summer," said Alice cheerfully.

"Hi," I said, entering the room uncertainly.

"Hey, Jake, do you want me to give you a ride back to La Push?" asked Bella, getting to her feet.

"Sure," he said easily, setting Renesmee on her feet. She ran to Edward and climbed into his lap.

"Summer, you can come, too, if you want," said Bella, glancing at me.

"Okay," I agreed.

"See ya, Nessie," called Jacob as the three of us headed for the door.

We crossed the front yard to the garage and I stopped in my tracks when I saw the line of cars.

A big Jeep Wrangler. A bright red BMW convertible. A silver Volvo. A black Aston-Martin Vanquish. A red Ferrari. A gigantic motorbike. A bright yellow Porsche. There was an empty space at the end, probably for yet another car. Bella grabbed a keyring off a hook in the corner and headed along the line. She stopped at the Ferrari and climbed into the driver's seat.

"You have a _Ferrari?_" I said in awe.

"Yeah. A present from Edward," she said dismissively, as though she didn't like the sports car much. She had never been one for cars.

Jacob sat in the passenger seat, so I had to sit in the back. I felt like I was a child again. Bella drove quickly down the driveway, taking the sharp turns with a simple spin of the steering wheel. In Phoenix, she had been a _very_ careful driver. She had changed a lot.

We sped through Forks on the main road.

"So where's La Push?" I asked. The silence was too much for me.

"About ten minutes away from Forks," said Bella, keeping her eyes on the road. "Home to La Push tribe. All the guys are pretty big and strong." She glanced at Jacob with a glimmer of a smile.

Silence overtook the interior of the car again. Bella pulled up in front of a wooden house and Jacob hopped out of the car.

"You guys want to come in for a minute?" he asked, directing the question more towards Bella.

"I should probably get back," she murmured.

"Aw, come on," he said pleadingly. "Billy's always complaining he doesn't see you enough anymore. Please?"

"Okay," she said reluctantly, getting out of the car. I followed them into the house in silence.

"Bella!" cried a man in a wheelchair. "I haven't seen you for so long."

"Hey, Billy," she smiled.

A few guys around Jacob's age appeared behind Billy in the doorway to the living room. They were tall, with lots of muscles, dark hair cropped short, and dark skin.

"Hey, Jake," said one.

"Quil," Jacob nodded. "Summer, this is Quil, Jared, and Embry."

"Hi," I said politely.

"Hi, Summer," said Quil and Jared. Embry said nothing. He just stared at me, his mouth slightly open. Jared's eyes lit up with excitement and he reached up to shut Embry's mouth for him. Embry blinked and shook his head as if clearing off some sort of confusion.

"I -- uh -- um -- I -- hi," he managed.

I frowned slightly. "Okay..."

Embry squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them and started staring at me again.

"Well," said Bella, "we'd best be getting back..."

Embry's eyes grew a little panicked. What was wrong with him?

"Come on, Summer," she said, dragging me from the house. I got into the passenger seat of the Ferrari and she drove off muttering to herself.

As we drove, I stared out the window into the forest. I heard a howl in the distance, and Bella muttered something that sounded like "Damn wolves."

"Bell?" I said after a minute of that pressuring silence.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you so... _different?_"

"What do you mean?" she said, as though she were trying to avoid my question.

"You look different, you sound different... You used to say that if you got married before you were thirty, your mom would kill you. What's up with that? And a _daughter?_ You're only twenty, Bell. And this car... It's amazing, I know that much, but you were always one of those people that didn't _want_ a super-expensive car. And you haven't emailed me or phoned me for almost two _years._ I thought I was your friend. I --"

"Summer," she interrupted me. "You're right. I _haven't_ talked to you for two years. I'm sorry. And people change. Renée was okay with me getting married. She likes Edward. And she's practically best friends with Alice and Esme now, after helping them plan the wedding."

"Why didn't you invite _me _to the wedding?" I asked. I knew I was whining like a child, but I didn't care. "I missed you so much! And now that I've shown up here, you act like you don't want me to be here."

"I _do,_ Summer," she promised. "I missed you, too. It's just that it was a surprise. I don't take well to surprises, you know that."

"I like how you completely skated over the whole change in voice and appearance," I said sarcastically. "What's with the _eyes?_ Didn't you _like_ your brown eyes?"

"What do you mean?" she asked absently as we pulled into the garage. She got out of the car before I could answer, walking out of the garage without looking back.

I slumped in the passenger seat. What was going on? Wasn't Bella my friend anymore?


	2. Discovery

Two

My eyelids fluttered open and I was blinded by a bright, white light. I thought for a minute. Then the memories of the day before came flooding back. Showing up at Bella's father's house, finding out she was married -- married! Going to her new family's house, meeting all those _people_. La Push. Embry Call. And how much Bella had changed.

Married. I still couldn't believe it. What happened to the _old_ Bella? The one that left Phoenix promising that she was going to hate Forks, that the second she got the chance she would come back. But she hadn't returned to Arizona. And she seemed perfectly happy here, with a whole new family and new friends. And then there was the little girl -- what was her name? Renesmee? I'd have to get a better explanation about that. If she was adopted, then why did she bear some kind of strange resemblance to Edward Cullen? And she had Bella's eyes. Bella Cullen. The name sounded so strange. It didn't sound like the Bella I used to know.

I swung my legs out of the big white bed and walked over to the big window. A blanket of snow covered the lush green of the forest in the Cullens' backyard. Renesmee and Jacob were making snow angels. Bella, Edward and the rest of the Cullens looked on, laughing. All of them together made a beautiful picture, the kind that could be on a Christmas card. I watched them for a few minutes. Edward, Alice and Carlisle retreated into the house. Moments later, I heard the purr of an engine and the screech of tires on ice. I wondered briefly where they were going. I opened the window to call down to Bella, like I used to when I had lived next door to her back in Phoenix, but I heard Jasper's Southern drawl floating up into the cool, crisp air. I knew that I shouldn't listen, but I couldn't stop myself.

"... got to hunt. Having a human here was a bad idea," he was saying to Bella. "I don't know what Alice was thinking, letting her stay here --"

I knew that they were talking about me.

"She can see the _future,_ Jazz," Bella assured him. "She must have known that it was going to end up this way."

Jasper sighed. "Well, I'm going to hunt. I'm not going to lose my control like I did with you, Bella. Anyone coming?"

"I should probably stay here in case Summer wakes up," Bella told him regretfully.

"Well, I'll come," announced Emmett. "I could use a bear or two. Rose?"

Rosalie grinned. "Count me in."

"Maybe next time," offered Esme. "I want to paint Edward's piano room while he's out."

Bella and Esme went inside. I watched in horror as Rosalie, then Emmett, then Jasper, each sped across the yard, moving so fast that they were only a blur, and leapt, one by one, over the river and into the forest.

I blinked. What had just happened? I couldn't have imagined something like _that,_ right? Or could I have? No. It had been real.

I had to accept that there was something very _strange_ about the Cullens, something Bella knew about, something Bella was okay with. Were they even_ human?_ I remembered Jasper's words: "Having a human here was a bad idea." So they weren't human. But if that was true, then what _were_ they? Was Bella one, too, whatever it was? Did I even want to know? I decided that I didn't. And with all that talk about hunting, plus the speed and strength with which the three of them had jumped over the river, they were probably dangerous, too.

I had to get out of here. I looked around the guest room. I hadn't taken much out of my big duffel bag yesterday; the only things that I needed to pack were the clothes I'd worn the day before. I grabbed my bag, swung open the door, and --

"Summer?" Bella was coming along the hallway towards me. She took in the bag over my shoulder and the expression on my face. Her eyes were no longer the colour of molten gold, but black, as black as night. "Are you okay? Are you leaving already?"

I attempted to answer both of her questions at once, without speaking, but since the answer to one was 'no' and the other 'yes,' my head just thrashed around violently. Bella placed an ice-cold hand on my shoulder. She guided me back into the guest room and sat me down on the unmade bed that I had so recently vacated.

"Tell me everything," she urged.

She was my best friend. I couldn't hide _anything_ from her. Like when she'd gone to her father's house for a month in the summer when we were younger, and I'd taken care of her fish. Me being the forgetful person that I was, the fish had died. But I had bought a _new_ fish, looking exactly the same. And Bella didn't suspect a thing. Three weeks passed, and she still thought that this new blue fish was Ocean. And as the fourth week drew to a close, I'd blurted out everything to her.

So I spilled this time, too. I told her all my worries about how much she'd changed, and all about how I'd heard everyone talking in the yard. She paced the room as I talked, looking anywhere but at me; at the paintings hanging on the pure white walls, at Renesmee and Jacob, now making a snowman in the backyard.

"And I guess that none of your family are human," I finished, "but I don't know _what_ they are, exactly... And what about you, Bell? I know you've changed a lot. Are you like them? Whatever they are?"

There was a long silence. Finally, Bella turned from the window to look at me. "I can't tell you, Summer," she said quietly.

"And why not?" I practically exploded. "You can't tell your _best friend_ anything! I can't hide a thing from you, but you've managed to keep your whole _life_ a secret from the second you left Phoenix!"

"It's not just about Bella, Summer." My head whipped around. Alice, of all people, was standing in the doorway. Hadn't she gone out, with Carlisle and Edward? What was she doing back at the house?

Bella looked frantically at Alice. "How is this going to turn out? Can you see it?" she begged.

Alice shook her tiny little head. "It's not a final decision, Bella. I can't see it if it's not decided, you know that."

Bella sighed, defeated.

"Will you tell me now?" I pressed.

"It's not just about Bella," repeated Alice. "This is bigger than that. If she tells you anything without discussing it with the rest of us, the whole family will be uprooted. I know that much, I don't even have to _look._"

"What do you mean, _look?_"

"I've already said too much," muttered Alice.

"I want to tell you, Summer. I really do," Bella said intently. "But it's not my story to tell. Not completely. Edward!" Like Carlisle had yesterday, she didn't even raise her voice, but seconds later, Edward was in the room.

"Alice said that we don't need to pretend anymore," he told Bella. "She knows that she'll find out sooner or later, but we have to discuss when and where we're going to tell her."

Somehow, I knew that 'she' was me. Bella's hand slipped into Edward's.

"Summer, you have to stay up here. Promise me. Listen to music or something. I'll be back soon," she said as she left the room, not even waiting for me to promise that I'd stay in the guest room. I looked out the window. Renesmee and Jacob were putting the finishing touches on their snowman. But it wasn't a snowman. It was a wolf.

I wondered what significance that had. Probably something big, but I couldn't figure it out now. I heard whispered voices two floors below me, far too quiet for me to eavesdrop. And even though, technically, I hadn't promised Bella I would stay where I was, I simply couldn't leave the room.

Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett returned, leaping back over the river and running full tilt into the house to join the discussion. I tapped my feet on the floor while I waited. I heard a bang and then Rosalie's raised voice. "We can't tell her! We can't tell anybody! It will ruin everything! I'm _not_ moving again!" A hushed voice said something urgently, and Rosalie gave a loud groan and then the sounds below returned to muttered arguments.

Finally there was a knock on the door to the guest room and Bella opened the door. "You can come downstairs now," she said quietly, and led me down into the dining room. The Cullens were all seated around the big wooden table. Rosalie was glaring at me angrily. Emmett placed a hand on her leg, and that seemed to calm her a little bit. Alice bounced up and down excitedly in her chair. The rest of them looked completely calm and collected.

"We're going to tell you what we are," said Carlisle. "But first, you have to promise that you will never tell a living soul."

Emmett let out a loud laugh. Esme silenced him with a look.

"We're taking a big risk, telling you this," said Carlisle. He fell silent and waited.

"I promise," I said.

It was silent for almost a full minute. My grey eyes flickered around the table, lighting on each Cullens' face. I heard a faint shriek of laughter outside, where Jacob was still playing with Renesmee.

"Well, then, what are you?" I said finally, unable to bear the silence anymore.

Carlisle's mouth opened and formed one word.

"Vampire."

***

_**Author's Note: **__Yes, I know I haven't updated in FOREVER. I'm sorry. I was kind of having major writer's block for this story. I was trying to aim for a longer chapter... This one isn't nearly as long as the first one -- seven pages! I don't know HOW I wrote all that back in July... Anyways, I hope this will satisfy you for a while, at least. Thanks to the people who reviewed last chapter: __**Vampreader, starbright37, delete now, **__and__** HPobsessssssed7**__. Also thank you to anyone who added this story to your favourites or story alerts, and I'm sorry for making you wait for so long!_


	3. Sparkle

Three

It couldn't be true. It _wasn't_ true. The Cullens were _not_ vampires. Vampires slept in coffins and burned in the sun and fed on...

Humans.

I began to back away from them. They all sat there, motionless, staring at me. I didn't know why I was suddenly afraid of them, because it was obviously just a joke. Soon they would all burst into laughter and everything would be normal again. Just a joke, just a joke. I repeated it in my head over and over again.

"Bella took it pretty well, in comparison," said Edward with a glimmer of a smile. "I seem to recall her finding out on her own terms, putting together the puzzle pieces until they made the right picture. Then she just says to me, out of the blue, 'I know what you are.' But she wasn't afraid, no..."

I stopped. Not because of anything that Edward had said, but because I'd backed right into a wall. Maybe I could... distract them... somehow. I looked at all of their faces. They certainly didn't _look_ like they would hurt me. But what if it wasn't a joke? What if they were just pretending, to lure me into a sense of false security? Then they would attack and drink my blood and -- _stop._ I knew I was overreacting. This was just a joke, right?

"It's not a joke, Summer," said Edward.

I froze. "How -- how --" I couldn't finish. How had he done that? It was as if he knew what I'd been thinking.

"Exactly."

I stared at him.

"She's going into shock," observed Jasper from his seat. "I can feel it."

"She's going to faint," announced Alice. "She'll be out for a few days."

"Calm her down, Jasper!" ordered Carlisle. I watched as the scene played out before me like a movie. I was unable to move, pressed up against the wall.

"Five... four... three..." Alice counted. A wave of calm began to spread over me as she did so. I saw the look of concentration on Jasper's face and wondered what was going on. "Two... one... zero."

Then the floor zoomed up to meet me and everything went black.

***

When I came to, the blackness still surrounded me, suffocated me. I could hear everything going on around me, even if I couldn't necessarily _see_ it. The voices floated up around me, seeming to echo in my head until I couldn't hear them because they were so loud, pressing on my eardrums. After almost a minute, maybe more -- in this state, I didn't know -- the echoes faded away, and I could hear what was being said more clearly.

"She's been out for four days," said a musical voice anxioulsy. I knew the voice, but I couldn't tell exactly who it was. "When will she wake up?"

"Soon," assured a voice that sounded like tinkling bells. "Don't worry. It'll be another ten, fifteen minutes, at most. I promise." There was a pause. "I've seen it. It's going to be soon."

"She can hear us," said a male voice. "She's a little confused, but she recognizes your voice, at least, even though she doesn't know who it is, Bella."

Bella. So _that _was the first voice. Slowly, the blackness began to grow lighter, turning grey, then white. It took what seemed like forever to do so, but finally my eyes opened. I was lying on my back, staring up at the pristine white ceiling. My eyes slowly adjusted to the bright light filtering in from outside, and I became aware that a large group of people surrounded me. The first person that I identified was Bella. Her eyes were golden again. I wondered if it had been a trick of the light, the blackness in her eyes the last time I had seen her. Then everything came rushing back. In my mind, I saw it all, rushing along through my head with no sign of stopping, whirling around, faster and faster and faster and faster... The Cullens, gathered around the big dining room table, announcing that they were going to tell me what they were. Carlisle saying that one word that scared me to death. Vampire. Just a joke...

I looked around at all of them. I stopped when my eyes came to rest on Bella again. My best friend. She stood right by my head, Edward's arms wrapped loosely around her, biting her lip anxiously. And I had to ask her the one question I would never have thought I'd be asking anybody. I didn't want to ask anybody this question, but I had to know the answer.

"Bell..." I swallowed. "Are you a v--v--vampire, too?"

She nodded.

Normally, I would have taken the news that my best friend was a vampire like the news that the world was going to end in five minutes. But I was too exhausted to react like any normal person would have. So I just gave her a weak smile and mumbled, "You never tell me anything."

Bella's face broke into a wide grin. "You're okay!" she cried happily, breaking out of Edward's grasp and hugging me, which took some maneuvering, because I was still lying on the dining room table. I managed to sit up, and she hugged me properly before returning to Edward.

The sliding glass door slid back with such force that I was sure it should have shattered into a million pieces of jagged glass on the wooden floor. A tall, dark-skinned boy that I recognized as Jacob Black, the one who spent so much time with Renesmee, burst into the room wearing only a pair of sweatpants -- wasn't he freezing? It was _snowing_ outside! -- and announced, "Embry wants to know the situation. If I hadn't already imprinted, I'd think that he was nuts, sending me in here every five minutes to check on her, but --" He finally noticed me and clapped a big brown hand over his mouth. "Damn it! Why didn't you tell me she was up? What am I going to tell Embry? _Oh, hey, Embry, sorry, but I let slip that you imprinted on Summer..._" He rushed back outside.

"Mutt," muttered Rosalie.

"Leech!" came Jacob's voice from outside.

Esme sighed. "Just when I thought we were past that..."

"What's imprinting?" I asked.

Bella sighed. "You always ask about what you shouldn't know," she muttered. "I can't tell you. It's not my story to tell."

"I never get to know anything," I grumbled.

"We told you what we are," Bella pointed out.

"Is it really true?"

Bella nodded. "But we aren't like... like Dracula," she tried to explain. "Tell me what you think you know about vampires."

"Burn in the sunlight?"

"Myth."

"Sleep in coffins?"

"Myth."

"Wooden stakes?"

"Myth."

"Garlic?"

"Myth."

"Is anything _not_ a myth?" I asked, exasperated.

"I'll just tell you the facts," interrupted Esme, smiling. "Real vampires aren't like the vampires in all of the stories. Practically the only similarities are that we drink blood, we are immortal, and we are incredibly dangerous. We don't burn in the sunlight, and garlic and wooden stakes don't affect us. It would be pretty hard for a wooden stake to penetrate our skin, anyways. We don't sleep in coffins; in fact, we don't sleep at all. Ever. We also can't eat human food -- well, we can, but we have to cough it back up later. We don't age; for instance, Bella is nineteen forever."

My head whipped around to stare at Bella. "_Forever?_" I whispered.

Bella nodded.

"But we aren't like others of our kind in a way," Esme continued. "We don't feed on human blood. We feed on animals; it's what makes our eyes this colour" -- she indicated her liquid-gold eyes -- "instead of the customary red. When we're thirsty, our eyes turn black. We call ourselves 'vegetarians' -- our little inside joke."

"We are the world's most dangerous predator," said Edward intently. "We have all the weapons we could possibly need. Speed. Strength. Agility. We don't have fangs, but our teeth are incredibly strong, and we are venomous. And then we have the things that draw our prey to us: we are attractive --"

"Modest, Edward, really modest," grinned Emmett.

"And you have yet to see our skin in the sunlight," Edward continued, ignoring Emmett.

Bella took my hand in her ice-cold one. I remembered what Esme had said about wooden stakes not being able to penetrate their skin. Curious, I poked Bella's arm. The skin didn't give; it was rock-hard. Bella led me outside into the snow. Edward followed us. She looked at me, deciding something, then picked me up and started to run. She leapt over the river and into the trees. The wind whipped my cheeks, blowing my long red hair back from my face. I glanced behind us to see Edward racing along, not even two feet behind. I shut my eyes because I was getting motion sickness, but very suddenly, we stopped. Bella put me down and took my hand again, leading me into a little cottage that looked like it had just popped out of a fairy tale. She took me up the narrow stairs and into a room with a big bed, a white couch and shelves upon shelves of CDs. She sat me down on the couch and disappeared into a large closet. Edward leaned against the wall next to the door, watching me closely. I sat there, silent, until Bella returned, wearing a tank top and shorts. Then Bella picked me up again, perched on the wide ledge at the bottom of the big window, and jumped out.

I screamed.

"Calm down! It's easier than going down the stairs, all right?" said Bella, landing neatly on her feet in the snow and taking off into the trees again.

"Where are we going?" I gasped.

"Out of the fog," she replied. "You're going to see what our skin looks like in the sunlight."

"Aren't you cold?"

"Temperatures don't bother us," she said, and by 'us' I assumed she meant 'vampires.'

Moments later, we stopped at the edge of the trees. I could see that we were at the top of a big hill or small mountain; I wasn't sure which. Bella put me down and I stood, shivering -- not only from the snow, but also from her cold skin -- and stepped out into the sunlight. Edward, standing beside me in silence, watched my face carefully as I stared.

Bella's skin was sparkling. Like thousands of tiny diamonds were embedded in her rock-hard skin, every facet glittering as the sun bounced off of it, shedding rainbows on the white snow.

"Time to go back to the house," said Bella, stepping back into the shadows beneath the trees. She picked me up again and we hurtled down the hill. This time we didn't stop at the quaint little cottage, but merely zoomed right past it and through the still-open sliding glass door, into the Cullens' dining room. Bella put me down and then headed through the kitchen into the big living room. I didn't hear a thing, but Edward had disappeared after her within seconds. I followed more slowly to see Bella standing in the entry to the living room, Edward right beside her, staring at a group of tall, muscular, dark-skinned boys.

"What's going on?" Edward was asking.

"_You_ know what's going on, Edward," snapped Alice from the foot of the stairs. "_I_, unfortunately,don't, thanks to the --" She noticed me and fell silent.

Why was everyone keeping secrets from me?

"Embry wanted to see Summer," supplied Jacob.

"Why would he want to see _me?_" I asked, confused. "I only met him a few days ago!"

I saw Embry in the front of the group of boys. He was around nineteen, I supposed. He was wearing only a pair of jeans. His black hair was cropped short and his dark eyes lit up when he saw me standing behind Edward and Bella.

"He's seen her," said Rosalie pointedly. "Now, mutts, get out of here! The_ smell_ is getting to me!"

"The smell's getting to us, too," grumbled one of the boys.

"Why did you bring so many?" asked Edward. "It's not like we're going to prevent you from seeing her. We know what's happened."

"What? What happened?" I asked curiously, but they all ignored me.

"Everyone except Embry, move it," Jacob ordered, and they all filed out the door obediently. Jacob nodded to Embry. "See you back at Emily's for dinner tonight," he said, and followed the rest of them.

"I want to talk to Summer," said Embry. "Privately. I need to tell her what's going on."

"Are you sure that's the best idea? When we told her what we were she was out for four whole days," said Emmett. "And _you_ don't have a doctor in the family."

"I'll keep her on your property," snapped Embry. "Edward can listen to my thoughts the whole time, and if she faints -- which she won't, judging by the reactions of the other imprints -- then he can get the doctor to her, all right?"

Emmett shrugged. "I was just warning you," he said. "Rose and I are going hunting." And with that, he tugged Rosalie out the door and disappeared.

"I have a headache," complained Alice, heading upstairs. Jasper followed her.

Esme claimed that she had to go and buy more paint for Edward's piano room and disappeared out the front door. Edward opened his mouth to say something, but Embry held up a hand.

"You don't need to make an excuse to leave, Edward," he said wearily, and Edward nodded and led Bella out of the room, leaving me alone with this strange boy I didn't even know.

***

_**Author's Note: **__Two chapters in one day! I suppose I'm over the writer's block now... Hooray! Thanks to __**starbright37**__ and __**HPobsessssssed7**__ for reviewing so quickly! You'll have to wait a bit for the next chapter, I think... I'm going to try and get another chapter done for Mudblood now..._


	4. Wolf

Four

For a few minutes, Embry was silent. I stood there, unmoving. I had become a statue. His dark eyes locked on my green ones, but he still did not speak. The silence lengthened and became unbearable, even though it had probably only been three or four minutes.

"What do you want?" I said finally, unable to take the silence any longer.

Embry flinched at my tone, but barely a second had passed before he resumed his earlier position. His lips barely moved as he spoke. "I need to explain some things to you," he said.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked. "I mean, I did faint when I found out Bella's secret, and it seems like you have a pretty big secret."

"I can't keep anything from you," he replied.

I thought for a minute. "Earlier, when Jacob came, he mentioned _imprinting_. What's that?"

Embry sighed and muttered something under his breath. "It's a long story."

"I've got time," I returned.

He looked at me for a moment, then seemed to give in and began. "I'll start with the legend. Supposedly, the La Push tribes were descended from wolves. Do you believe that?"

I thought for a minute. "You know, a few days ago I would have said no, but given the circumstances... I think I'll believe anything now."

Embry smiled. "Well, it's true. Come outside. I want to show you something."

Bewildered, I followed him out into the snow. He stopped at the banks of the river and pulled off his sweatpants. I covered my eyes politely, but I felt a burning-hot hand on mine and Embry pulled my hand away from my eyes. I tried to just look at his face. Suddenly, his body gave a sort of ripple and began to change. Within seconds, Embry no longer stood before me. In his place was a large, grey wolf with darker spots on its back. The wolf was tall; its big, dark eyes were level with mine.

Embry's eyes.

I took a step backwards.

The wolf rippled and Embry was back again. He grabbed his sweatpants from where they lay in the snow next to him and pulled them on hastily, stepping after me. I kept moving backwards until I was backed into the wall of the big house. Embry placed his hands on either side of me, his eyes filled with concern. I stared back at him, my emotions mixed up into a burning knot of fear, shock and confusion.

"Summer," whispered Embry, "do you still believe me?"

I swallowed loudly. "What are you?"

Embry was silent.

"What are you?" I asked again.

"You know," mumbled Embry. "You know."

"What are you?" I wanted _him_ to say it. I couldn't do it.

Embry sighed. "I'm a werewolf," he said.

I wished that I hadn't run into the wall, because then I could keep moving. But now Embry trapped me against the wall, his skin radiating heat even in the freezing cold snow around my ankles.

A werewolf. I'd suddenly been thrown into a world of fiction. One minute I was perfectly happy and normal in Phoenix, and then I decided to visit Bella on the spur of the moment, and now I could never go back on that. I'd never get away from it. Knowing that my best friend was a vampire. And Jacob and Embry and all the rest of the La Push boys that were in the living room earlier -- the must all share the same predicament as Embry.

I tried to calm myself down. I hoped I wouldn't faint again.

What was I doing? Worrying about fainting when a werewolf stood in front of me? And eight vampires inside the house at my back. And Renesmee -- Bella's daughter. Was she really adopted? Or by some miracle, was she actually Bella's child? If so, did that mean that Renesmee was half human, half vampire? Eight vampires, a half vampire, and a werewolf. And here I was hoping that I wouldn't _faint. _Fainting was overrated.

"Summer?" said Embry. I thought his voice was tinged with worry, but that wasn't possible. He couldn't be _worried_ about me. The human. He was probably going to kill me.

"Stay away from me." I tried to say the words firmly, tried not to sound as scared as I really was.

Embry's eyes widened in shock and -- was it possible? -- hurt. I tried not to look at his face because I knew I would somehow end up letting him stay. And then he would kill me, and then --

But Embry stepped away from me. He looked at me sadly and walked around the corner of the house, looking back at me every few steps. I watched him go around the corner and sank to the ground, not caring that I was getting my jeans all wet from the snow. I leaned my forehead on my knees and tried to clear my head.

A werewolf. Why did this have to happen to _me?_ I supposed it had happened to Bella before she fell in love with Edward and got turned into a vampire and everything, but surely she had dealt with it better than I had. Bella was the type of person who wasn't fazed by anything, not even the news that everyone around her was a mythical creature. Meanwhile, I was completely opposite, fainting at that kind of thing. Why couldn't I be the sturdy person that Bella was? Why?

And what had Edward said about Bella's reaction to his being a vampire? Something about her finding out on her own and not being scared... But I was most definitely scared. Not of Bella, but everyone in her new family. Especially Emmett. He looked very strong and dangerous.

Eventually the cold wetness of the snow got to me and I stumbled inside. I wandered into the kitchen and found Bella and Renesmee there. Bella sat at the island with her possibly-adopted-but-possibly-not daughter while Renesmee wrinkled her nose at a mug of hot chocolate and a plate of brownies.

"Come on, Nessie. You can eat it, it won't hurt you," Bella was saying. She looked up as I entered the room. "Oh, Summer -- will you eat a brownie to show Nessie it's not poisoned or anything?"

"I'm not _stupid,_" said Renesmee in a high-pitched voice. Were four-year-olds supposed to be able to speak fluently, perfectly? Even my seven-year-old cousin, Sheila, still stuttered and had terrible grammar. "I know it's not poisoned. I just don't _like_ human food. I prefer hunting."

I raised an eyebrow at Bella. "Let me guess, she's somehow your actual child and she's half-vampire, half-human or something?"

"How did you know?" said Bella after a minute.

My mouth dropped open. "I was _right?_"

Bella nodded. "She grows at an accelerated speed. Technically, she's about two years old. Carlisle says that she'll probably stop aging when she's around seven, but she'll be physically seventeen or eighteen, he thinks."

I stared at her. "I can't believe I was right!"

"So what did you talk about with Embry?"

I shuddered. "Don't even talk to me about it. I don't -- I can't..."

Bella slumped back in the tall chair and sighed. "If you told him to stay away from you or something, it's not going to work. He's powerless."

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"I mean he _can't_ stay away from you. He'll try his hardest to keep away from you, to make you happy. If you're not happy, he isn't, either. That's what imprinting _does._ But he'll try. And he'll fail, let me tell you. You'll come around eventually. You can't hate him forever."

"I don't _hate_ him," I muttered. "I just --"

"Summer," said Bella, "he can't stay away from you. It's that simple."

I sighed. "What _is_ imprinting, exactly? Because it seems pretty complicated to me."

"I still can't tell you, Summer. Embry has to tell you that, once you decide not to hate him anymore."

"I don't hate him!"

"If you say so," said Bella with a smile.

***

_**Author's Note:**__ The bit where Summer's going all "What are you?" reminds me of in Vampire Diaries. :P I'm so hyper right now, my two BFFAEAEAEs were hyper too and we feed off each others' hyperness! I'm literally bouncing up and down in my chair right now. So... What did you think of Summer's reaction to Embry being a werewolf? Even though he's technically a shape-shifter... ;) Was Embry believable? Tell me what you think! I know you're out there! You can't hide from me... MUAHAHAHA!!! I'm not going to hold the next chapter over your heads until I get a certain number of reviews, but I will say that I have now established an order for updating my stories. (1) This one! (2) My HP fanfic, "Mudblood." (3) My other Twilight fanfic, "Paisley." (4) "Danger," my Hunger Games story. So it could be a while... :(_


	5. Imprint

Five

I couldn't sleep. It wasn't the noise; the Cullens were quiet as a mouse downstairs. Bella and Edward were back at their cottage in the woods with Renesmee, who was sleeping like I wished I could. But I couldn't. Because the world that I thought I knew had changed.

Vampires. Werewolves. What next? Faeries? Unicorns? No, those were too... _happy._ Zombies, maybe. Or witches. I'd grown up watching movies about this type of thing. Books and television shows. But never _once_ had I imagined that maybe, just maybe, they really did exist, somewhere. It was all just pretending to me.

It occurred to me that maybe _this_ was why Bella hadn't contacted me in so long. Maybe she'd wanted to keep me away from this hidden world of mythological creatures. Had she somehow _known_ that I wouldn't be able to handle it? That it would be too much for me? Because if so, she was right.

I lay there in the dark, thinking, wondering. I tossed and turned, trying to find a position that was comfortable enough for me to fall asleep. The dark outside clouded in through the window and suffocated me.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

I glanced at the clock. 2:26 AM. Who would be coming to the Cullens' guest room at this time of night? Or, rather, morning? Before I could get up and open the door, it opened a tiny crack.

"Summer?" came Bella's hushed voice.

"Hi," I whispered back.

The door opened a little further and she slipped in and sat down at the foot of the bed. "Tell me what you're thinking," she demanded.

"Couldn't you just get Edward to tell you?"

"You're out of his range. He's back at the cottage with Nessie. Now, what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking, what the _hell_ is imprinting?" I said finally.

She sighed quietly. "I can't tell you, Summer. I mean, I've told you the _effects,_ but I can't tell you what imprinting actually _is._ Well, I could, but I'm not going to. That's Embry's job."

"I don't want to see him," I mumbled into the pillow.

"Well, then, you'll never know what imprinting is," she teased me.

"I can't sleep," I said, changing the subject. I realized that I didn't even _want_ to go to sleep.

"Do you want me to get Jasper? He can help you fall asleep," Bella offered.

"No," I mutter. "I don't want to go to sleep."

"I can try and keep you occupied," Bella suggested. I nodded, and she began to tell the Cullens' stories, obviously leaving out some parts that she thought might be too gruesome or something -- I noticed that she skimmed over Jasper's story quite quickly. She spoke quietly, her soft voice filling the room. I listened intently as she told me about the tracker who had caught her scent shortly after she'd moved to Forks, and how she'd gotten away from him.

"You came back to Phoenix?" I exclaimed. "And you didn't come and see me?"

"James knew everything about my life, Summer! I had to stay with Alice and Jasper. Besides, I couldn't have gotten away from them if I tried."

"But you did," I objected.

"That's not the point," she mumbled, and continued on with her story before I could interrupt again. For the rest of the story, I was silent, even when she told me about cliff-diving and going to Italy to save Edward -- _Italy!_ -- and the army of newborn vampires and the Volturi. I shuddered at the thought of these ancient vampires who kept the world of vampires a secret from the protection of their own city. When Bella finally fell silent, my ears were ringing from the absence of her voice, which I had grown used to over the past few hours. The sky was now beginning to lighten outside. There was another knock on the door and Edward peeked in.

"Bella, love? Alice said you'd gone up to talk to Summer... Do you want to come hunting?"

Bella stood and smiled at me. "Sure." Then she walked out of the room and shut the door, calling over her shoulder, "See you later, Summer!"

I sat there in bed, somehow not even tired from the endless night of talking -- not that there was much talking on my part. The door opened again without even a knock, and Alice and Jasper entered. Jasper gave me a small, forced smile while Alice put down the tray of steaming food that she was carrying.

"Here's some food for you, Summer!" Alice chirped. "The La Push pack are here, and I figured that you wouldn't want to come down because Embry's here, too." She tapped her head knowingly. She sat down on the couch and pulled Jasper down beside her. I watched as he wrapped his large hand around her smaller one, staring at them until I realized that they were staring back at me. "Eat up," ordered Alice cheerily. I guessed that she had no intention of leaving until I ate all of the food on the tray that sat on my lap. Alice smiled at me and I looked at the food, picked up a fork and started to eat. I ate faster and faster as I began to realize how hungry I was.

"Don't eat too fast," said Alice, laughing.

When the tray in front of me held only empty dishes, Alice picked up the tray in one hand and shut the curtains. Then she nodded to Jasper, and I felt a wave of calm and drowsiness washing over me. My eyes closed slowly and I fell into a deep sleep.

When I woke, it was dark outside again. My inner clock would be completely off now. I stretched and looked around the dark room. Shadows where the furniture was. I stood and went into the bathroom, flicking the light on as I went. The bright light hurt my eyes.

A few minutes later, I wandered downstairs and peeked around the corner into the living room. Alice and Edward were sitting in front of a chess board, staring at the pieces, which were still in their starting positions. Esme was sitting on the floor, drawing a floor plan of a house, while Emmett and Rosalie sat together in an armchair, eyes locked on the TV. The football game that was on was nearly muted, but I supposed that they could hear it easily. Jasper took up the entire length of a couch, eyes scanning the pages of a thick paperback novel. Carlisle, Bella and Renesmee were nowhere to be seen.

"Hi, Summer!" said Alice, her eyes never straying from the chess pieces in front of her.

I sat down in an empty armchair and focused on the football game, trying to figure out what was going on without the noise of the crowds and the announcers. I remained this way for a few hours, barely moving.

Then the silence of the house was shattered by the shrill ringing of the doorbell.

Alice groaned. "Now I'll _never_ win!"

I glanced at the chess board again. Not a piece had moved. Edward's mouth turned up at the corners.

"Come on in," he called, and the door flew open. A figure was standing in the doorway, a mere shadow in the blackness outside.

"Embry," grumbled Alice, knocking over her king. "I forfeit." She stood up and marched out of the room.

I glared at him. He stood in the front hall, staring into the living room, his hair dripping with rain. He looked back at me, apparently impervious to the daggers I was mentally throwing at him. He seemed content to just stand there in silence, looking at me and not moving an inch. I tried to ignore him and turned back to the third football game of the night.

Edward tapped me on the shoulder. "Embry wants to talk to you," he whispered.

I glared across the room at Embry. _A werewolf!_ "Well, I don't want to talk to him," I said loudly. Embry flinched. I allowed myself a grim smile.

Edward crossed the room and spoke to Embry in a low, quick murmur. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Embry's face fell. His shoulders slumped forward and he trooped out of the house into the pouring rain again. Edward shut the door behind him and sat down at the grand piano, staring blankly at the keys without moving. I tried to concentrate on the football game.

What seemed like moments later, the sun was blinding outside. The room was empty apart from Esme, still sketching her floor plans, and Jasper, immersed in another book. There was a stack of thick novels next to him that I assumed he'd already gone through. I guessed that I'd fallen asleep again.

Esme looked up and smiled warmly at me. "Bella and Edward took Nessie into town," she explained, noticing the question in my eyes. "Carlisle's in his study, and Alice went hunting with Emmett and Rosalie."

I stood up, stretched, and looked outside. Last night's rain had washed away most of the snow, leaving only slick, dark ice beneath it. The sun shone off the ice, glinting in all directions. But that didn't hide the figure standing by the edge of the forest, across the river, staring at the house. I went out onto the back porch, carefully avoiding any patches of ice on the wooden surface. Shielding my eyes against the sun, I started down the steps into the backyard. The figure hadn't moved. I was fairly sure that I knew who it was, but somehow the part of my brain that usually told me to stay away from him wasn't working. Instead, I wanted to run to him. I tried to shake the feeling off, but my feet wouldn't stop. I was now walking smoothly across the ice in the backyard. I looked down at my feet. I was walking on the ice. I could see the grass flattened beneath it, and I only hoped that I wouldn't slip on the cold, slippery surface.

Too late. The ice cracked as I landed painfully on my tail bone. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to focus on standing and going back into the house.

I felt a sudden wave of heat come over me and a warm hand closed around mine. I opened my eyes and looked up. What a mistake! The sun shone down from behind him, making him look like one big, dark shadow.

"Are you okay?" asked Embry anxiously.

"I'm fine," I grumbled. "No thanks to _you._" Thank goodness; that part of me was back.

Embry sighed in relief. "I saw you fall," he said. _No, really?_ "What were you doing out here? The ice is dangerous!"

"That reminds me," I said, gritting my teeth as he helped me stand up. "What were _you _doing, standing there watching the house?"

"I was watching you," he said simply.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "_Why?_"

"Because I imprinted on you," he whispered.

"Oh? Are you finally going to tell me what imprinting _is?_"

"I was going to, last night! But you refused to talk to me!"

"Well, it seems like at this particular moment, I don't have a choice, so shoot." I glared at him, waiting.

Embry sighed and sat me down on the steps that led up to the back porch, carefully seating me on a patch where there was no ice. "When I said I was a werewolf," he began, "that wasn't really the whole truth. Look; what's the main thing you know about werewolves?"

"They change at full moon," I replied immediately.

"Exactly. And the other day, when I showed you what I am... Was it full moon?"

"No."

"Exactly. It was broad daylight. You see, technically, we're just shapeshifters. Our ancestors just happened to pick wolves to shift into. They could've picked anything -- eagles, bears... But they picked wolves."

"What does this have to do with imprinting?" I asked. Against my will, I was now curious.

"Well, one of the things that us shapeshifters do," he continued, "is imprinting. The general idea is that there's one soulmate for us out there, and when we see them, that's called imprinting. It's like..." He struggled for words to describe it. "Well, it's kind of like gravity doesn't matter anymore. The only thing that's holding you to the earth is that person. And you'll do anything to make them happy. You'll be whatever they want you to be."

I couldn't speak. I just stared at him.

"Don't you get it, Summer? _I_ imprinted. On _you._ And I'll do anything for you. Do you hear me? Anything."

***

_**Author's Note: **__Wow, it's been a while! I made an honest effort to make this chapter longer, and I succeeded. But not by much. I'll try harder next time. I promise. Thanks to my wonderful reviewers! __**HPobsessssssed7**__, __**The Queen Geeks Social Club**__, __**jblc77**__, __**vampyregurl09**__, and __**starbright37**__. Also, thanks to an anonymous reviewer, __**AnaStasia**__ -- you really flatter me! Thanks so much! I can't believe that you think I have a major in writing and I'm 40 years old!!! You've added on twenty-five years... I'm 15. :P Thanks soooo much for reviewing, everyone!_


	6. Friends

Six

I just stared at him. His voice echoed in my head and his big, dark eyes looked hopefully into my blue-green ones. _Don't you get it, Summer? I imprinted. On you. And I'll do anything for you. Do you hear me? Anything._

"Summer?"

Esme was looking curiously out at Embry and I, standing just inside the house.

"Maybe you should come back inside," she suggested. "You must be freezing."

I stood up numbly and walked into the house, aware that Embry was acting as my shadow and following me every step of the way. He sat down next to me on the couch on the living room. I couldn't look at him. _It's like gravity doesn't matter anymore. The only thing that's holding you to the earth is that person. And you'll do anything to make them happy. You'll be anything they want you to be._ My brain refused to obey me, turning my head so that I could look him in the eye.

"You ... imprinted ... on ... me?" I said it slowly, cautiously. As though I wasn't sure what he had just said. Because I wasn't sure. What was I supposed to do now? I couldn't just walk away from this. According to what Embry said, when I had told him to stay away from me, it had killed him inside. He said that he had tried his best, but it had been impossible for him.

Embry nodded, obviously wondering how I would take this. I felt his warm hands on mine as he curled his fingers around them. He continued to look at me, and I found it hard not to lose myself in the dark pools of his eyes.

Wait a second. What was _wrong_ with me? This was Embry. I had only known him for four days. Four days! And here he was, pouring his heart out to me. And according to him, this was something that couldn't be controlled. I wondered if I could just act like this had never happened. Just go back to Phoenix and continue on with my life. I thought of Trevor Hills. We'd been off and on all through high school, and he kept saying that he was in love with me. I didn't feel that way, but I was sure that I could learn to love him. But then there was Embry. How old was he, anyways? He looked to be in his early twenties, but he acted around sixteen... Wasn't that a little young?

"I'm nineteen," said Embry.

I looked up at him, startled; I wasn't aware that I had voiced my thoughts. I wondered how much I had said aloud.

"Just from around where you were thinking about how old I am."

"I've got to stop doing that," I mumbled.

"Are you okay with this, Summer?" he asked anxiously.

I shrugged wordlessly.

"Well, what do you want me to be?"

"Huh?"

"I imprinted on you, Summer. Remember? I'll be whatever you want me to be. I'll do anything you want me to do. Or, at least, I'll try."

"Friends?" I asked before I could stop myself.

Embry smiled gently. "Friends." I wondered if he was expanding on that thought in his head, but quickly tried to shoo the thought out of my mind. Embry stuck out a hand and I shook it, and that was that. Friends.

***

Two days had passed. Embry had come to the Cullens' house on both days, and I hadn't avoided him, which was a change that I found I could deal with. He sat across from me at the table, which Bella told me hadn't been used at all until after Jacob had imprinted on Renesmee and the wolves had started coming over all the time. He sat next to me in the living room. If I wanted to stretch my legs, so did he -- we took long walks around the big backyard, once making a bridge out of stones and logs and crossing the river to walk in the forest. Edward always warned us to be careful, but Embry laughed at that and said, "Don't be stupid, Edward, she's with me."

The two of us were walking silently through the forest that afternoon. I was watching the ground in front of me, reveling in any patches of sunlight that shone through the leaves of the trees. We didn't speak. The silence seemed to be pressing in on me until I couldn't breathe.

"Want to play a game?" I asked finally, unable to bear the silence any longer.

Embry glanced at me. "Sure. What game?"

I thought for a minute. "I Spy?"

He raised a dark eyebrow. "I Spy?"

"I don't know. Just for something to do. We don't have to," I said defensively.

Embry looked around thoughtfully. "I spy with my little eye something that is... yellow."

"Buttercup." I pointed at the bright yellow flower. Embry sighed. "I spy with my little eye something that is green," I said, smiling.

"That's not fair! There are too many things out here that are green!" complained Embry.

"It appears that _someone_ is a poor sport," I chuckled.

"Let's play something else," he suggested.

"Why? Because you know you're going to lose? It's a sad day when you lose to a girl at I Spy," I grinned, but gave in. "Okay. How about..."

***

"Sushi."

"Ice cream."

"Macaroni."

"Iceberg lettuce."

"Spaghetti."

"Idaho potato."

"Salami."

"What's with all the _I_ foods?" complained Embry.

"What's that? You're being a poor sport _again?_" I teased. Embry and I had become the new form of entertainment in the Cullen household -- we sat on the couch in the living room or at the table in the dining room calling back and forth answers to our little games. I Spy. First Letter, Last Letter. Bella and her new family just sat around, watching us, motionless, eyes moving back and forth from Embry to me like they were watching a tennis match. At this particular moment, I was lying on my stomach on the thick carpet, colouring in a My Little Pony colouring book, Renesmee's hand moving twice as fast as my own, clutching a bright pink crayon. Embry sat in an armchair, eyes locked on me instead of on the TV, which was showing yet another football game -- that was all Emmett seemed to watch -- and was now being ignored as Embry and I resumed our game.

"But you have _strategies_ for every game that we play," Embry protested. "It's not fair. You know how to play them, you have to explain half of them to me --"

"It's not my fault that you live a sheltered life," I said, flashing a wide smile at him before looking back down at Tulip Twinkle's tail.

***

I'd been in Forks for two weeks when it happened. Embry and I were walking in the forest again, and we'd just sat down on a mostly-dry log in a small clearing. We were bantering back and forth, still playing First Letter, Last Letter -- Embry had finally come up with Italian sausage, which I had countered with eggnog.

"There's no _G_ foods!" announced Embry after much thought on the matter.

"There is, too," I argued.

"Yeah? Name one."

"Green beans," I said immediately. Embry looked disappointed in himself. "Can I take this as a sign of giving up? Again?"

Embry sighed. "I suppose so." He looked down at me; even with both of us sitting down, taking his long legs out of the picture, he was still half a head taller than me. I smiled up at him, triumphant. And that's when it happened.

Before I could do anything, Embry leaned down and pressed his lips gently against mine.

***

_**Author's Note: **__Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! I can't believe I haven't updated in over a month! I had to write chapters for Mudblood, Paisley, and Danger... It took me forever to get around to Danger and then I had writer's block for this one. That's part of the reason why it's all in little tiny sections. The other part of the reason is that I wanted to get the events leading up to the end of this chapter over with. I could've had them span over a couple of chapters, but I didn't have the heart to write that much more. That's also why this chapter isn't as long as some of the other ones. Hopefully after this I'll get some inspiration and go into some kind of writing frenzy... Thanks to the people who reviewed last chapter: __**HPobsessssssed7**__, __**starbright37**__, __**TheUnicornsBite**__, __**LegoLassss**__, __**Cherry Blossoms 1991**__, and __**65ashben**__. You guys make my life! And... onto Mudblood!_


	7. Choose

Seven

I didn't move.

His lips were warm and soft, gentle, and after a moment, I found myself kissing him back. Our lips moved in sync for quite some time before I pulled away. Embry opened his eyes as I turned to face straight across the clearing, keeping an eye on him with my peripherals. We sat there for what seemed like forever, neither of us moving or speaking.

Embry still didn't say anything when I finally gathered the strength and courage to stand up and walk away. I didn't look back, unsure if I'd be able to keep going once I did. I walked across the clearing. The grass, still damp from the fast-melting snow, tickled my ankles. I kept walking. Through the trees, ducking under the low branches, listening intently for the footsteps behind me that would tell me that Embry was following me. But no matter how hard I listened, I couldn't hear anything but my own feet hitting the grass and the birds chirping cheerily overhead. Why were there still birds this far north? It was January, for God's sake!

Over the river on the fallen tree that served as a bridge, across the backyard, up the porch steps. My fingers were numb as I tried to work the handle of the sliding glass door; you would think it would be easy, just pull, but somehow it wasn't.

Bella was sitting with Renesmee at the dining table, trying to coax her into eating human food again. This time Renesmee sat in front of a plate of chocolate-chip cookies.

"If you force her to eat all this junk food, she'll get fat, you know," I said, snagging a still-warm cookie from the plate. Bella grinned at me.

"Where's Embry?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Somewhere in the forest."

"Why didn't he walk you back?" she asked. "He promised Carlisle --"

"I know," I mumbled through my (stolen) cookie. Renesmee didn't seem to care that I'd taken her food, though, so it probably didn't make a difference. I would've ended up eating the whole plate, anyways, after she refused to.

"Well, what happened?" pressed Bella.

I didn't answer, instead taking another cookie and shoving half of it into my mouth.

"Summer..."

I chewed furiously and swallowed. "I don't want to talk about it," I said through what I hadn't managed to get down. Before Bella could respond, I was through the kitchen and placing a foot on the bottom stair.

"Summer," said Bella quietly from right beside me. I'd forgotten about the super-speed thing. Great. And when had I become so comfortable with my best friend being a vampire, anyways? Bella's ice-cold hand closed around my wrist. "Tell me what happened. You'll feel better if you talk about it," she encouraged me.

Edward who was sitting on the couch, immersed in a thick paperback novel, looked up to follow our conversation.

I replayed the entire scene in my mind. The meadow. The game. The kiss.

Edward's mouth turned up at the corners and he put his book down on the coffee table, not bothering with a bookmark. Maybe vampires didn't need bookmarks. He stood and started towards us, pausing at Bella's shoulder and whispering something in her ear, at which she turned to me with a sort of deer-in-headlights expression.

_Excuse me, _I thought angrily. _When did I give you permission to tell her?_

Edward grinned at me and went back to the couch and his book without answering.

"Embry kissed you?" whispered Bella.

I nodded, pulled my arm out of her grip, and went upstairs to the guest room. _My_ room?

So much for privacy. I shut my door and sat down on the bed -- _my_ bed? -- and she was already knocking on the door, not even waiting for me to respond before she was beside me.

"Summer," she said quietly.

There was a long pause. I could practically _hear_ the clock ticking, which was pretty much impossible because it was a digital clock. But I felt like I could hear it anyways. "What?" I said finally.

"What did you do when he kissed you?"

I shrugged. "Nothing, at first. Then I kissed him back. And then I left."

"Did you say anything to him?"

"What is this, an interview?"

"You know, Summer, he won't hold your leaving against you or anything. You're his imprint; he'll do anything for you. He probably told you that, right?"

I nodded and Bella continued.

"He'll be whatever you want him to be, Summer. If you don't want your relationship to be romantic or anything like that, he'll understand. I mean, if you look at Quil -- when he imprinted on Claire she was only four years old. He's pretty much her big brother figure right now, but someday that could change. It all depends on what she wants. And it's the same with you and Embry. If you want him to be your best friend, he will. Whatever you want, he'll do it."

***

The next morning when I woke up, I just sat there in bed for God knows how long, thinking. About Embry and what Bella had said and what I was going to do. And finally I decided what to do. I would leave. Go back to Phoenix.

It's not that I wanted to leave. I had to. This whole thing with my best friend being a vampire and having a half-vampire child and werewolf friends, or shapeshifter friends, or whatever they were -- it was just too much. I couldn't take it anymore. I thought that I could do it and that everything would work out, but it wasn't going to happen. I had to go back to Phoenix and try to forget about it. I could go out with Trevor Hills or somebody equally human and pretend that I didn't ever come on this stupid visit to Forks, Washington. And I could leave now -- according to what the family had been talking about it on their way into the forest a few minutes ago, Carlisle was at work and Bella had taken Renesmee to visit Charlie. So I was alone in the huge house and nobody would know I'd left until after I already had.

Of course, my plan didn't stay a surprise for long. I was packed pretty quickly (it's not like I'd ever really _un_packed) and was dragging my suitcase down the hall to the stairs when Alice appeared at the top of them, tiny hands on her hips and one eyebrow raised at me as if to say, _Where the hell do you think you're going?_

I stopped short but forgot to stop dragging my suitcase along, and it rolled right into the back of my heel. I bit my lip to keep from making any noise.

"What are you thinking?" asked Alice. "You think you're going to do us all some good by leaving?"

I guess I'd forgotten about Alice's uncanny visions. Stupid vampire powers. When did I get so comfortable with the whole vampire thing? I kept surprising myself, completely over the shock of my best friend being a vampire ever since Embry had revealed the whole werewolf thing to me. Shapeshifters. Whatever he wanted to be called.

"It's not that I _want_ to leave," I mumbled.

"Then why are you going?" Alice said without missing a beat.

"Because I can't _do_ this," I tried to explain. "I can't live in a house full of vampires with werewolves coming to visit all the time and pretend that I'm okay with my best friend being a vampire and having a half-vampire kid. I can't act normal around this werewolf guy who looks twenty and acts sixteen and has apparently imprinted on me and won't leave me alone --"

"I thought that you and Embry were friends," interrupted Alice.

"We are," I said, flustered. "I can't -- it's hard to explain. I --"

"What did he do?"

"Don't you already know? With your whole seeing the future thing?"

Alice shook her head. "I can't see anything to do with them. I don't know why. I can't see them or Nessie."

I sighed. "He kissed me."

Alice raised her eyebrows at me. "And that's what's making you leave?"

"I -- it's not just that," I said. "It's everything. I thought I could handle it, but I can't. It's too much."

Alice's shoulders slumped. "Bella's going to kill me for letting you leave," she muttered. "But I guess if it's what you want then I have to let you go."

I tried to smile at her. "Thanks, Alice."

And within an hour I was boarding the next flight to Phoenix.

***

_**Author's Note: **__Don't kill me, don't kill me, don't kill me... I know I haven't updated since before Christmas and that this is in no way a good enough chapter to make up for it because it's so freakishly short. But I have (sort of) a couple of excuses. The first is completely legit; I had exams. I mean, I know that they were only a week out of the month and a half or however long it's been since the last chapter, but it's a pretty good reason. The second reason is that over Christmas I've been kind of obsessed with Kelly Clarkson (well, it kinda sorta started in November when I saw her in concert, which was AWESOME!). It's getting a teensy bit out of hand -- I literally listen to nothing else. Her CDs have been banned from the dinner table and my parents and brother are completely sick of her music. My sister's okay with it 50% of the time, but only because she's nine-and-a-half years younger than me and is convinced that anything I do is completely 100% the right thing to do... Another sign of how bad my addiction is -- I was sitting in the car waiting for my dad to come back from the grocery store or somewhere and I was looking at the quarters that we keep in the car for parking meters, and I got really excited because one of the quarters was from 1982 (the year Kelly was born) and the one right next to it was from 2002 (the year she won American Idol). Also, I am seriously considering celebrating her birthday on April 24th (she's turning 28!). I may actually bake a birthday cake... That is, if I don't screw it up because I'm not really good at cooking. Anyways, back onto the topic of the story. I really admire you if you've stuck with this story and you're still reading, because, well, I haven't exactly been faithful with the updates. All of my stories are feeling very neglected... Thank you to __**Cary44**__, __**65ashben**__, __**LegoLassss**__, __**HPobsessssssed7**__, __**Cyllena**__, __**starbright37**__, __**cullencutie747**__, and __**jinnabun**__. Congratulations to __**jinnabun**__ for recognizing the game that Embry and Summer were playing (from "The Truth About Forever" by Sarah Dessen). I'll try not to neglect this story again, but my Kelly obsession could change that... :P_


	8. Return

Chapter 8

My apartment was just as I had left it when I went to Forks in the first place.

The black leather couch still had a tiny rip on the corner from when my friend Amy brought over her tiny Yorkshire terrier, and the tap in the bathroom was still leaking a tiny trickle of cold water into the sink, down the drain. There was still a crack in the plaster of the kitchen ceiling.

I didn't hang my coat up in the hall closet like I normally did, just dropped it on the floor when I came in. I poured myself a glass of milk and hopped up onto the counter. I stared at the blinking orange number eleven on my answering machine for several minutes before finally reaching out to press the 'play' button.

"Hi, Summer!" came my mother's cheery voice. "I just wanted to let you know that Mary Anne is in town! You remember Mary Anne, right? She's brought her son with her. A lovely boy. Daniel. A year older than you, and very nice. He's going to college to become a _doctor._ I imagine he'll be living quite well! Call me back!" My mother had been trying to set me up with guy after guy for years.

_Beep._

"Hi, Summer!" Mom's voice filled the room again. "I was just wondering if you'd like to go out for coffee on Wednesday afternoon with me and Mary Anne. We can even invite Daniel, if you'd like! Call me and let me know!"

_Beep._

"Summer, hi," said Trevor Hills' uncertain voice. "I wanted to tell you that... me and Kylie broke up... Oh, and I wanted to ask you... if you'd go to a movie with me... on Friday. Bye."

_Beep._

"Summer, the second you get this message, get your butt over to my place," shrieked one of my best friends, Amy. "I have some exciting news! Bye!"

_Beep._

"Summer, where the hell are you?" It was Amy again, and she seemed to have no time for hellos. "Pick up your phone..."

_Beep._

"Hi, Summer. I wanted to go out for coffee on Wednesday, remember?" My mother sounded angry. "What day is it now? _Thursday._ Why didn't you call me back? Phone me as soon as you get in. Bye!"

_Beep._

"Summer Johnson, why won't you answer your phone?" It was Amy yet again, and she sounded confused and furious and annoyed all at once. "I wanted to tell you my big news! I even went over to your apartment and waited for, like, _hours,_ and you didn't answer the door and you didn't show up! So now I'm going to have to tell you on your answering machine. Which, just so you know, is _lame._ Because then I don't get to know what your initial reaction is. So... here it is." Amy paused for a dramatic effect. "_I'm engaged!_ Now phone me back!"

Engaged. That was a big step. I wondered briefly if Amy and Nolan were ready for that, but I was too absorbed in my own problems to really react to Amy's news. I knew that was stupid.

_Beep._

"Summer, what do you think you're doing?" I was surprised to hear Bella's indignant voice issuing from the tiny speakers on my answering machine. I wondered how she'd gotten my phone number, as I had still been living at home when she moved to Forks and we hadn't been in contact at all until I'd shown up there for my little surprise visit. "You won't get away from Embry this way! And Alice blames you for how mad I am at her."

"I do not!" Alice yelled in the background.

_Beep._

"Summer, hi," came a deep voice that I couldn't place for a minute. "I just want you to know that, uh, Embry's pretty depressed now that you've left." I suddenly realized who it was -- Jacob. "He won't eat, he won't sleep. And, uh, you should also know that Bella's chewed Alice out about fifty times for letting you leave and Alice still won't admit to having seen you before you left, but Edward's told Bella the truth." There was a pause. "You should've stayed, Summer. Now that Embry's... you know... I don't know if I should say it over the phone... But now that he has, you know, he can't be happy without you. Please come back."

_Beep._

"Summer Katherine Johnson, you are ignoring your own mother!" My mom practically yelled into the phone. "You won't return my calls, you won't let me in when I buzz your apartment... I know you have call display, so you're obviously avoiding my calls. This is _not_ the way you should treat me, Summer! I've taken care of you your whole life, and _this_ is how you repay me? Is this about Daniel?" She rants on for a while until the machine cuts her off.

_Beep._

"Um, Summer? I just -- oh. It's Alice, by the way. Um, I just wanted to tell you that no matter what you do, it won't keep Embry away from you. He's not going to move on -- he _can't_ move on. He'll never get over you and if he thinks that he'll never see you again, he'll probably kill himself or something. I can't tell -- I can't _see_ him. Just thought you should know, you know, so maybe you'll come back. It's not just Embry, either. Bella's pretty depressed, too. Which makes Jasper depressed. Which makes me depressed. Which makes basically _everyone_ depressed. Edward says that because I'm the optimistic one and they're all used to me being happy all the time, and now I'm not, it affects everyone else or something like that. Anyways, I'm going to go know, because this phone _reeks._ Jacob used it earlier. Bye, Summer."

And, with a final _beep,_ the answering machine fell silent. I pressed _erase_ and wandered into the living room area of my apartment with my glass of milk, but stopped short. My heart almost stopped as I stared out through the glass door of the balcony. My glass of milk dropped from my hand and the white liquid spilled all over the carpet, splashing onto the leather couch.

There -- on the sixth floor, no less -- stood Embry.

_**Author's Note: **__Would you look at that! I didn't take a month and a half to update! In fact, I took less than a week! Are you as proud of me as I am? :) So in the way of my life's news, my six-year-old sister was making Valentines last night with my mom (for her kindergarten class) and then she felt sick, so Mum took her upstairs. Later Emma went back downstairs, and then she came back upstairs and said she was going to bed. We figured it was because she'd felt sick earlier. Then Mum found a whole bunch of tissues in the garbage with blood all over them! She asked me and my brother if we knew what they were from and we didn't know. Emma was curled up in bed with her hand tucked into her chest and she had Band-Aids stuck all over her finger. Mum had forgotten to put the Exacto knife away and Emma cut her finger! :( Mum and Dad took her to the hospital to see if she needed stitches... They got back around midnight and Emma's fine. Apparently it was "borderline" for the stitches so they didn't do stitches, 'cause Emma's only six and there's two needles to freeze it. So they used this stuff (Dad says it's kinda like crazy glue) to stick the skin together and then bandaged it up. Emma's gonna be the hero at her kindergarten class! Like last month when Avery broke her arm, everyone wanted to eat their snack at Avery's table. :) Anyways, sorry this chapter's really short. Thank you to __**65ashben**__, __**jinnabun**__, __**LegoLassss**__, __**starbright37**__, __**vampiremom1221 **__(I did listen to Kelly while I wrote this chapter), __**xX Diet Pepsi Xx**__, __**HPobsessssssed7**__, and __**Cherry Blossoms 1991**__ for reviewing, as well as two (!) anonymous reviewers, __**Mia**__ and __**Rose**__. I think that's possibly the most reviews I've gotten for a chapter on this story yet! Hooray!!!_


	9. Balcony

Chapter 9

Tall, dark-skinned, muscular. Just like he had been the last teem I had seen him, when I walked away from him in the woods, yet somehow different. It could have been the sun, which was so rarely seen in Forks. Then again, it could have been the sadnes in his eyes. But even beyond that, there was something else that made him look different. I finally settled on it being the way I looked at him after that day in the forest.

I opened the sliding glass door a tiny crack. "How the hell did you get up here?" I hissed into the still air. No winds to blow the tension away.

His facial expression didn't change. "I climbed."

"Why would you do that?" I asked, incredulous. "What if someone saw you?"

He looked around with exaggerated confusion. "What, the garbage dumpsters?"

It was true. I had what was possibly the worst view in the history fo the world; an alleyway, full of garbage dumpsters with a high wall that went up almost to the fifth floor. I pitied the people on the first four flours; at least I, being in #612, could look over the wall. I did so now, praying that there was nobody on the shore of the lake that lay beyond the wall -- although why would anybody be stupid enough to go to the lake in January, even with the sun shining as steadily as it was? I thanked my lucky stars that no one stood on the sand, gaping up at the crazy guy on the balcony.

"Wolves can't climb," I said through gritted teeth.

Embry raised an eyebrow at me. "Do I _look _like a wolf right now?"

I opened the door the rest of the way and pulled him into the apartment by the arm. I dragged him through the kitchen and was just reaching for the doorknob, fully intending to throw him out into the hallway, when he dug his heels into the carpet of my front hall, pulling me up short.

"What are you, a dog?" I asked impatiently.

"Obviously."

I realized that I'd hit a little too close to home. "Sorry," I mumbled. "But really, Embry, you need to go back to Forks. Go home."

"Woof."

I gave an exasperated sigh and let go of his arm, grabbing a rag and heading into the living room to try and mop up the milk from the carpet and leather couch. I hoped desperately that the milk wouldn't damage the leather. Embry followed me. He stood behind me as I knelt in the middle of the broken glass with a rag in my hand, until finally I stood up, whirled around to face him, and pointed at the couch with my free hand. "Sit."

"Woof," he said again, but he stepped around me and sank down onto the couch.

"You," I said, trying to prepare some kind of speech in my mind, "are going to go home." _Really great speech, Summer,_ I thought. _Keep it up, you could go into politics. _"I don't know why you've followed me here, but --"

"You know why," he said. He hadn't smiled once the whole time he'd been here. "You're my imprint. I can't live without you."

I'd imagined my entire life that those last five words would come with fireworks and bells and that tingly feeling you get when you're really excited, like when I was thirteen and found out that I was going to Hawaii for a month, and maybe even a ring. But now I didn't feel anything aside from annoyance.

"You would've been perfectly fine if I had never gone to Forks," I said finally.

"Yes," he said agreeably, "because I wouldn't have met you. But I _have _met you. And now I can't be happy unless you're with me."

Again, I should've felt my heart rising into my throat and be the happiest girl in the world right now, with a guy telling me that he couldn't live without me. Instead, I sighed and tossed my rag down into the pile of broken glass, exasperated.

"You don't have to feel that way, Summer," Embry said earnestly, finally portraying a hint of emotion. "We don't have to be like that. Like I said before, I'll be whatever you want me to be. I can be your friend, I can be your brother --"

"Do you know how _awkward_ that would be?" I couldn't believe him. Acting like everything could be okay, like everything could be somehow _normal._ "It can never go back to normal. I could never think of you as a brother. 'Oh, yeah, Embry. My brother who kissed me that one time.'" I rolled my eyes in some attempt to look as though I knew exactly what I was doing.

"Well, what do you want me to be?" asked Embry uncertainly.

I collapsed onto the couch and buried my face in my hands. "I don't know," I mumbled. "Right now, I want you to be back in Washington, getting on with your life."

There was a sigh and a rustle. When I looked up, he was gone.

***

_**Author's Note: **I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! It's been almost a month... And this was a pitifully short chapter. I know. I'm sorry. :( On the upside, today is the official radio release date for Kelly Clarkson's new single 'All I Ever Wanted' and tomorrow is the album's one-year anniversary, and I actually made time to update! And I just found the most awesome Kelly Clarkson quote on her Twitter. "Seriously considering harming the construction workers above my freakin hotel room. Santa's workshop needs to take a freakin break already!" and then a little later "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PUT THE HAMMERS DOWN PEOPLE!!!!!!!" ;) Anyways... :P Next thing I gotta say... I now have a Kelly Clarkson fanfic that if you would like to read there's a link at the top of my profile. It's called "All I Ever Wanted" and it's a Kraham fanfic, which means that it's Kelly Clarkson & Graham Colton. They met on her Hazel Eyes Tour in 2005 (his band was one of her opening acts) and they dated for six or seven months and broke up in 2007, but in interviews she said that she could see herself with Graham again because they only broke up because they were both too busy with their careers. So yeah. :) Also, I randomly made a "" board where we can "advertise" (AKA: Post links/summaries) our stories and chat and play games and stuff. The link is near the top of my profile page, underneath the link to my KC fanfic. Please make an account on the board! ;) Also, I just wanna mention that my friend Zoe who lives in Hong Kong (I met her on ) has now made an account on Fanfiction and she's added THIS STORY to her Favourites!!! Hooray for Zoe!!! :D Now, thanks to my reviewers... Anonymous but regular **AnaStasia** (you gotta get Hunger Games! You gotta! Tell your mom that you can't survive unless you do!), **vampiremom1221 **(thanks for telling me the crazy glue on my sister's finger is called 'dermabond'), **cullencutie747**, **LegoLassss**, **starbright37**, **HPobsessssssed7** (whose favourite line from last chapter was "'He's going to college to become a DOCTOR'"), **65ashben**, __**M**__, an anonymous reviewer **Annoymous!**, and **Troian** (who likes this story better than my other Twilight one, 'Paisley'). I'm loving this 10 reviewers per chapter, guys! Keep it up! I'll try to update... soonish...  
_


	10. Run

Chapter 10

I should have known that he wouldn't actually leave. I realized that later. Over the next two weeks, I saw him _everywhere._ The grocery store, the gym, the bus stop outside of the office where I worked one of those boring desk jobs, the coffee house that I finally agreed to meet my mother at.

"Why haven't you been returning my calls?" she demanded as soon as I walked into the coffee house. Not even a _Hello, Summer, how are you?_

"I've been out of town," I explained. "I went to visit Bella." She looked at me blankly. She'd never paid any attention to my high school life. "Bella Swan," I elaborated, then launched into a description of her. It was pointless, I knew that much. But it made a one-sided conversation and took up time, so I kept on until my mother pretended that she knew who I was talking about. I acted as though I believed her.

"So, how is Beverly?" asked Mom.

"Bella," I corrected her. "She's doing great. She got married. Some guy named Edward Cullen," I chattered on, counting the seconds until I could leave. I'd told her I only had half an hour. Twenty-six more minutes... "They adopted Edward's niece, too, when her parents died. She's adorable. Her name's Renesmee."

"That's a strange name," Mom commented.

I shrugged. "I like it," I defended Bella's daughter. "They call her Nessie."

"What, like that monster? The one who lives in a lake?"

"You mean the Loch Ness --" I cut off, staring out the window. Across the street in front of the church, I could see him. He was just standing there, looking intently towards the coffee house, his dark gazed drilling into me. "I've got to go," I said quickly, picking up my purse. "Sorry, Mom. I just remembered... That meeting -- it's at one o'clock, not one-thirty.. So I'm -- I'm late. I'll call you, okay?"

And then I hurried out of the coffee house before she could respond. Crossing the street quickly, my eyes trained on Embry, I watched as he turned and began to walk down the street. I followed him as quickly as I could in my high heels, through the maze of downtown. He turned down a narrow alleyway between two brick buildings.

"Embry" I called as I turned after him. I caught up to him and he turned to face me. "Why are you still here, Embry?" I asked angrily. "I told you to go back to Forks."

"I can't," he said earnestly. "I have to be near you."

"But I don't _want_ you to be near me," I said harshly, well aware of the hurt in his eyes. "Do you not get that? What I _want_ is for you to go home and let me live my life without --"

That's when he kissed me, wrapping his arms around me, stepping forwards to force me back so that I was pressed up against the brick wall on one side. Involuntarily, I reached up to lock my arms around his neck, dropping my purse at my feet. Our lips whispered together until Embry finally pulled back.

"I _have_ to be near you," he repeated quietly.

I bent down and picked up my purse, checking the time on the screen of my silver cell phone. "I've got a meeting at one-thirty, in six minutes," I said as calmly as I could, and then I ran away from him.

***

_**Author's Note: **Sorry it's been so long! I had writer's block and my KC obsession and I just couldn't get myself to write. Plus I've been banned from the computer for the past few days because my dad was grumpy. And I know that this chapter's super short, and I'm sorry for that, too. You know what you can do to help? Review! I'm not gonna go all "I need ___ amount of reviews before I'll update" but I will say this -- it makes me want to write more if I know that there are lots of people out there who are reading the story and want me to write the next chapter. So yeah. Review! Thanks to the people who reviewed last chapter: **Elmo-.'BiteMe'.-Cullen** (I'm glad I've inspired you to switch to wolves), **StrawberryMusicFestivalChick** (LOVE your name!), **vampiremom1221** (I'm glad you liked the 'woof' part), **65ashben** (you've reviewed practically every chapter, so thanks!), **AnaStasia** (good job for running six miles to get the Hunger Games, and hooray for my obsession rubbing off on you), **lauintung** (who is my friend Zoe from Kelly Clarkson's fansite, three cheers for Zoe for making an account and reading this story!), and **HPobsessssssed7 **(I'm glad you liked the whole exchange between Embry and Summer). Hooray for reviews!  
_


	11. Author's Note

Author's Note

I usually refrain from posting whole-chapter author's notes... But I have to just this once. Please don't review this one because when I do update I will put it in this chapter and you'll have already used your review for the chapter...

The point of this author's note is to (A) apologize for how long it's been and (B) tell you some important news.

I'm sorry I've been so long in updating but I've got major writers' block and also I've been pretty busy. If you have any ideas for the story, please feel free to private-message me and it might help. :P

The important news is that this story is temporarily on hold. I know you probably hate me now but I don't want to start posting terrible chapters just to keep you guys interested or whatever. I'm hoping that you'll be okay with this. I will continue the story, but I don't know when. Hopefully, you guys will be okay with waiting because when I do post a new chapter, I want it to be a really awesome one.

Remember, don't review the author's note because then you can't review the chapter when I post it. If you have anything to say, or ideas for the story, just private-message me. :)


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